Sunday, December 20, 2015

For something that's been around for only a few years, TED talks have quickly become an important medium for learning and inspiration. They help people in all kinds of pursuits with knowledge and inspiration--and there's something wonderfully accessible about seeing and hearing someone communicate directly.

If you're not already a fan, these 12 TED talks represent some of the best and are a great place to start, especially if you are looking to become a better you.

When we work from a place, I believe, that says, "I'm enough" ... then we stop screaming and start listening, we're kinder and gentler to the people around us, and we're kinder and gentler to ourselves.

With insight and humor, Brené Brown shares findings from her research and where they led her in terms of human connection that leads toward knowing oneself and others.

Why do so many people reach success and then fail? One of the big reasons is, we think success is a one-way street. So we do everything that leads up to success, but then we get there. We figure we've made it, we sit back in our comfort zone, and we actually stop doing everything that made us successful. And it doesn't take long to go downhill.

Richard St. John tells the story of the rise and fall of his business as the basis for a discussion about the importance of tenacity and the nature of success.

By training your brain just like we train our bodies, what we've found is we can reverse the formula for happiness and success, and in doing so, not only create ripples of positivity, but a real revolution.

We believe we should work hard in order to be happy, but what if it's the other way around? Positive psychology researcher and teacher Shawn Achor uses humor and rapid-fire delivery to make the case that happiness makes us more productive.

If you don't find the highest expression of your talent, if you settle for "interesting," do you know what will happen at the end of your long life? Your friends and family will be gathered in the cemetery, and there beside your grave site will be a tombstone, and inscribed on that tombstone it will say "Here lies a distinguished engineer, who invented Velcro." But what that tombstone should have said is, "Here lies the last Nobel laureate in physics, who formulated the Grand Unified Field Theory and demonstrated the practicality of warp drive."

Larry Smith uses humor and blunt truth to call us out on settling for anything less than pursuing our passions.

Your model of the world is what shapes you long term. Your model of the world is the filter. That's what's shaping us. It makes people make decisions. To influence somebody, we need to know what already influences them.

Understanding motivation--our own and that of others--is a key to success. Famed success coach Tony Robbins discusses the forces that compel us to do the things we do.

If you make an effort to do the best you can regularly, the results will be about what they should be. Not necessarily what you'd want them to be but they'll be about what they should; only you will know whether you can do that. And that's what I wanted from them more than anything else.

Legendary coach John Wooden shares his thoughts about the meaning of success, the wisdom he gained from his father, and the values and lessons he passed on to his players.

Smiling can actually make you look good in the eyes of others. A recent study at Penn State University found that when you smile, you don't only appear to be more likable and courteous, but you actually appear to be more competent.

Learn about the evolution and purpose of the human behavior we call smiling--a behavior that has a surprisingly strong influence on our well-being.

Most people have never heard the phrase "the human universe," so it got a major boost from British physicist Brian Cox. A popular science presenter in the UK and physics professor at the University of Manchester, Cox called his latest BBC series by that name. (The amplified text is available in a lavishly illustrated book, Human Universe, written with producer Andrew Cohen, just out in paperback.) Cox covers the biggest unanswered questions, not just in physics but in science: Where are we? Are we alone? Who are we? Why are we here? What is our future?

By using "we" in each case, he centers the big questions on human beings. The science that Cox relies upon is orthodox. That is, he views the universe as a huge physical mechanism, with countless objects existing "out there" for scientists to examine. Contemporary physics is extremely complex--the book does a good job simplifying it for us laymen--but the basic foundation for all the billion-dollar radio telescopes and high-energy particle accelerators has been dubbed "naive realism." This view doesn't question Nature as it appears. There may be mysteries lying behind a phenomenon like the Big Bang, but that event, like the existence of stars, galaxies, molecules, and atoms, is a given.

The challenge to naive realism, strangely enough, also comes from modern physics. It is based on several grounds. First comes fine tuning, the name given to the extraordinary way that all the working parts of the cosmos, including the laws of nature that govern everything, mesh together. Over a dozen constants must be perfectly entrained for the present universe to exist. Fine tuning has been argued over for five or six decades at least, and it poses a huge dilemma for anyone who claims that creation in physical terms is completely random. As the British astronomer Fred Hoyle famously wrote,

"A junkyard contains all the bits and pieces of a Boeing 747, dismembered and in disarray. A whirlwind happens to blow through the yard. What is the chance that after its passage a fully assembled 747, ready to fly, will be found standing there? So small as to be negligible, even if a tornado were to blow through enough junkyards to fill the whole Universe."

Cox doesn't mention Hoyle except as the inventor of the term Big Bang. The index to his book doesn't list fine-turning, and there is no significant treatment of the challenge to randomness. This is in keeping with the interest orthodox science has in seeming to be correct rather than just a choice among several other choices. (In the same vein Cox is amused by philosophers, whose arguments against naive realism are not presented at all.) But in reality the existence of fine-tuning is absolutely critical to the existence of human life, since one can argue that not a single factor in the makeup of the universe can be changed or deleted without eliminating the appearance of human beings on Earth.

The second huge issue raised by the phrase "human universe" is our interaction with objects "out there." Are we observers staring at Nature like children with their noses pressed against a bakery shop window? That has been the standard view in science, in the name of objectivity. Only by being detached and rational, taking precise measurements and collecting data that isn't tainted by all the whims and uncertainties of our inner life can we hope to discover how reality works. This split between objective and subjective, however, was undermined by a phenomenon known in quantum physics as the observer effect, according to which the act of observing a particle like a photon or electron isn't passive at all. Instead, the observer influences what he observes.

At first the observer effect was chiefly related to the position of a particle. Where a photon is in time and space depends on how and when it is observed. This is a major attack on naive realism, because elementary particles apparently have two diametrically opposed aspects, known as wave and particle. When behaving like a wave, a photon exists as a "smear" extending infinitely in all directions; when behaving like a particle, it has a pinpoint location. What makes the difference, known as the collapse of the wave function, depends on an observer.

One of the greatest quantum pioneers, Werner Heisenberg, declared something truly radical: "The atoms or elementary particles themselves are not real; they form a world of potentialities or possibilities rather than one of things or facts." Other seminal thinkers like Niels Bohr and Erwin Schrödinger agreed; they saw that naive realism was a dodo more than a century ago, even though a belief in "things" being physically a given is the mainstay of Cox's book. He quotes no other viewpoint and comes nowhere close to revealing just how important the observer effect may be, as when Heisenberg makes another explosive statement: "What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning."

The third huge issue in the human universe is the role of consciousness. Max Planck, who originated quantum physics, believed that consciousness was impossible to get around; the human mind only knows reality through consciousness. Yet we have no idea what consciousness actually is, only that we possess it. A number of quantum thinkers, including Schrödinger, held that the human mind can't be unique. They posed the possibility that we live in a conscious universe, and that idea continues to be explored in conferences, books, and articles. Cox presents nothing on the issue, even though a widely respected theorist, the late John Archibald Wheeler, spoke of the "participatory" universe, one is which human beings are inexorably entwined. Wheeler isn't cited in Cox's book, nor is "consciousness" an entry in the index.

The bottom line for Cox is contained in the statement, "Our universe appears to be made for us." But instead of endorsing this view, which would be the beginning of the human universe, he calls it "content-free whimsy." To him, the mystery of how human life arose is simply the wrong question. We should be asking instead how we fit the laws of nature, not the other way around. Even though he concedes that the constants of nature are "with no known rhyme or reason to them," he believes that inside these constants are hidden potentials that will fully explain, often through computer modeling, how human beings came to exist.

In the end, it's a matter of perspective, with naive realism on one side, backed by the immense apparatus of modern research and technology, and other-minded thinkers who see that this block of cheese has many holes in it. Every argument for calling humans a cosmic accident--and Cox presents many of them, can be countered by arguments that view the same facts through a different theory--Cox presents none of those. Knowledge is now in a state where some like Cox believe that modern physics is marching ahead triumphantly while others see physics at a crossroads of turbulent, confused crisis. Even beyond the biggest questions posed in Human Universe, science has been forced to ask itself what is real and what is true--two issues that haven't been resolved since ancient times and have now returned to challenge us.

Friday, December 11, 2015

Luther Standing Bear was an Oglala Lakota Sioux Chief who, among a few rare others such as Charles Eastman, Black Elk and Gertrude Bonnin occupied the rift between the way of life of the Indigenous people of the Great Plains before, and during, the arrival and subsequent spread of the European pioneers. Raised in the traditions of his people until the age of eleven, he was then educated at the Carlisle Indian Industrial Boarding School of Pennsylvania, where he learned the english language and way of life. (Though a National Historical Landmark, Carlisle remains a place of controversy in Native circles.)

Like his above mentioned contemporaries, however, his native roots were deep, leaving him in the unique position of being a conduit between cultures. Though his movement through the white man’s world was not without “success” — he had numerous movie roles in Hollywood — his enduring legacy was the protection of the way of life of his people.

By the time of his death he had published 4 booksand had become a leader at the forefront of the progressive movement aimed at preserving Native American heritage and sovereignty, coming to be known as a strong voice in the education of the white man as to the Native American way of life. Here, then, are 10 quotes from the great Sioux Indian Chief known as Standing Bear that will be sure to disturb much of what you think you know about “modern” culture.

1) Praise, flattery, exaggerated manners and fine, high-sounding words were no part of Lakota politeness. Excessive manners were put down as insincere, and the constant talker was considered rude and thoughtless. Conversation was never begun at once, or in a hurried manner.

2) Children were taught that true politeness was to be defined in actions rather than in words. They were never allowed to pass between the fire and the older person or a visitor, to speak while others were speaking, or to make fun of a crippled or disfigured person. If a child thoughtlessly tried to do so, a parent, in a quiet voice, immediately set him right.

3) Silence was meaningful with the Lakota, and his granting a space of silence before talking was done in the practice of true politeness and regardful of the rule that ‘thought comes before speech.’…and in the midst of sorrow, sickness, death or misfortune of any kind, and in the presence of the notable and great, silence was the mark of respect… strict observance of this tenet of good behavior was the reason, no doubt, for his being given the false characterization by the white man of being a stoic. He has been judged to be dumb, stupid, indifferent, and unfeeling.

4) We did not think of the great open plains, the beautiful rolling hills, the winding streams with tangled growth, as ‘wild’. Only to the white man was nature a ‘wilderness’ and only to him was it ‘infested’ with ‘wild’ animals and ‘savage’ people. To us it was tame. Earth was bountiful and we were surrounded with the blessings of the Great Mystery.

5) With all creatures of the earth, sky and water was a real and active principle. In the animal and bird world there existed a brotherly feeling that kept the Lakota safe among them. And so close did some of the Lakotas come to their feathered and furred friends that in true brotherhood they spoke a common tongue.

6) This concept of life and its relations was humanizing and gave to the Lakota an abiding love. It filled his being with the joy and mystery of living; it gave him reverence for all life; it made a place for all things in the scheme of existence with equal importance to all.

7) It was good for the skin to touch the earth, and the old people liked to remove their moccasins and walk with bare feet on the sacred earth… the old Indian still sits upon the earth instead of propping himself up and away from its life giving forces. For him, to sit or lie upon the ground is to be able to think more deeply and to feel more keenly. He can see more clearly into the mysteries of life and come closer in kinship to other lives about him.

8) Everything was possessed of personality, only differing from us in form. Knowledge was inherent in all things. The world was a library and its books were the stones, leaves, grass, brooks, and the birds and animals that shared, alike with us, the storms and blessings of earth. We learned to do what only the student of nature learns, and that was to feel beauty. We never railed at the storms, the furious winds, and the biting frosts and snows. To do so intensified human futility, so whatever came we adjusted ourselves, by more effort and energy if necessary, but without complaint.

9) …the old Lakota was wise. He knew that a man’s heart, away from nature, becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans, too. So he kept his children close to nature’s softening influence.

10) Civilization has been thrust upon me… and it has not added one whit to my love for truth, honesty, and generosity.

I hope some of these quotes have moved you and influenced you the way they have for me. It seems as though our modern culture could use a little guidance from ancient wisdom.

Source: “10 Quotes From a Sioux Indian Chief That Will Make You Question Everything About ‘Modern’ Culture,” from wisdompills.com

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Communication skills are an essential part of everyday life. No man can be a success on his own. No matter what your profession, you cannot make it to the top without the help and support of others. No matter what area of your life you are trying to improve, you cannot do it without the help and support of others. If you want the help and support of others you need to have the essential communication skills. These essential communication skills enable you to make the most of each opportunity by delivering a clear and specific message to your audience. Whether your audience is one person, or many people, these essential communication skills will enable you to build better, more supportive relationships. As a result, you will achieve far more than you ever could alone.

1. Be complete

Whenever you communicate you should include all of the necessary detail in your speech. Never assume that some of the details are known by your audience. When you work off of these assumptions, your message will lack the necessary detail. Your message will become confused and it will be difficult to come to a clear understanding with your audience That’s why completeness is such an essential communication skill.

For important discussions, you should:

provide detailed information to your listeners

provide additional information to make your points clearer

prepare your message in advance

consider any possible questions which your audience may have

When you are finished delivering your message, the last thing that you want is for your audience to say “What are you actually trying to say.” There may be some flaws in your message or the manner in which you have delivered it so, invite questions. Where you cannot answer a question, make a note of it and promise to get back to the person who posed the question. When you send them a response, make a note of how you can include this information in future messages.

2. Be concise

Conciseness is another essential communication skill; especially in business. Time is our most precious resource. No one wants to spend 1 hour listening to a message that could be delivered in half the time. Include only the necessary information.

For important messages, you should:

only include the relevant information about your topic

avoid providing unnecessary information e.g irrelevant examples

Consider providing an F.A.Q. or supplemental information handout

When you keep your message concise, you save time, both for yourself and your audience.

3. Be considerate

Another essential communication skill is the ablility to consider the impact that your message will have on the other person. When you seek first to understand your audience, you will be better able to tailor your message for them. You have to think twice about the key points and make sure that you are always conveying your message in the most positive tone possible. Where bad news has to be delivered, consider how you might be able to help them to deal with the impact.

Analyse every aspect of your message in terms of how it impacts the receiver. Make the message all about them because that is what they are interested in. You wouldn’t attempt to sell somebody a car by explaining how you will benefit from the sales commission. This same approach applies to all communication.

4. Get your facts right

Certainty is another essential communication skill. Where a message includes facts, you need to be clear on those facts. Get them right. Double check your facts before you deliver them and make sure that they are in the format that the receiver requires them.

When I worked for a bank, my boss was sourcing a management development program. He prepared an amazing proposal but when he presented it to the CEO, the CEO was fuming. The program was to be delivered by a UK company and all of the prices were in UK pounds, while we dealt in the Irish Pound. My boss had neglected to do the conversions and now he was presenting a proposal without being able to say for certain whether the program was within the relevant budget.

Facts should be clear and accurate. If you sound vague or obscure about the facts, your audience will be confused, sceptical and negative. This will directly impact the effectiveness of your message. If you are clear and assertive with your facts, you will be more confident and this will come across in your message; making more message more convincing.

5. Be clear

Clarity is an essential communication skill because the purpose of communication is usually to change something. If you want somebody else to change something, they need to be clear about what it is that you want them to do, and what the desired result is. You need to be precise and use simple, easy to understand language. Your audience should not have to work hard to understand your message. Don’t be too formal and don’t use jargon that only specialists understand.

6. Be courteous

Courtesy means that you should show respect to the receiver. When you are appreciative, thoughtful, and respectful, you foster good will. Be polite and use non-threatening gestures; your audience will feel comfortable and they will be more receptive to your message. These are just some simple behaviours which demonstrate your professionalism

7. Keep it appropriate

It is important that your message is tailored for the right audience, at the right time, in the right place. Appropriateness is a fundamental and essential communication skill. While you should respect all people, you may need to communicate with different people in different ways. For example, many CEO’s expect to be addressed in a different manner than you would address the ordinary level worker within their organisations. You may, or may not, agree with that but when communicating, you should always attempt to communicate in the preferred style of the audience; not in your preferred style.

I once had to work with a CEO who expected all written communication to be condensed on to one page. If there was more than one page, the message came back, unread. Personally, I thought that it was unnecessarily petty and pedantic but, nonetheless, every message that I sent to her was on one sheet of paper.

Whenever you manage to control each of these 7 essential communication skills, you will deliver a very effective message. Your audience will be able to understand exactly what you are asking of them which will increase the likelihood of them helping you. Supportive relationships allow you to harness the power of synergy. These essential communication skills lie at the very heart of supportive relationsips. In short you can say that if your message meets all of these criteria then, it is said to be an effective message and the results you achieve will be greatly improved.

Increase your profits by investing wisely. Instill a long term perspective to evade myopic results from a short-sighted plan.

#3: Invest in a Long Term Career Path – Map Your Progression Professionally

Mapping your professional interests can help you strategically build your career path.

DIY Tips to Chart Your Career Path

Do a SWOT analysis on your professional traits. Determine your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. In this way you can identify the best opportunities that can help you progress with purpose.

Inculcate a long term vision. Do not let short term challenges come in the way of building your potential in the future.

How Does This Increase My Annual Income?

Being at the right place, at the right time with the right capabilities, tactically improves your career prospects.

#4: Invest in Rewarding Risks – Zone Out of Your Comfort Zone

Taking risks can snap you out of your comfort zone.

DIY Tips to Zone Out of Your Comfort Zone

Take a chance to challenge yourself. Push your limits beyond the monotony of mediocre tasks. It is a bitter truth that machines will replace you eventually.

Focus on work that allows you to build your capabilities, even if it means making a drastic change.

How Does This Increase My Annual Income?

Stepping out of your bubble automatically unlocks new possibilities

#5: Invest in Health – Focus on Your Physical, Mental and Social Well Being

The real wealth is in the health and well being of your body, mind and social interaction. While the increase in disposable income may translate to a higher standard of living, it could also lead to increasing health issues.

DIY Tips to Enrich Your Wealth in Health

Physical Health

Exercise. If not for the physical benefits, it also helps in reducing your healthcare bills.

Eat healthy. A home cooked meal is not only healthier but also lighter on the pocket.

Mental Health – Many occupational lifestyle diseases are creeping into urban population. Maintain a good work-life balance to avoid mental problems such as depression, hypertension and neurological issues.

Social Well Being – Whether you admit it or not, who you interact with socially and your lifestyle have a big impact on your personality. The social environment you choose to be influenced by will affect the way you think and the decisions you make. Choose wisely.

How Does This Increase My Annual Income?

You become the environment you live in. Make it clean, green and lean on the body, mind and wallet.